Vintage Londoner with retrocentric tastes. Interested in the uncommon,artistic,cultural and visual life of this old tart of a city and its tawdry glamour. Tinctured with cocktails, swear words and the odd rant. I'm friendly but bolshy and my opinions are honest and sponsor-free. P.R and marketing types please see 'About Me'.
redlegsinsoho@me.com

Monday, 6 August 2012

The 'Vintage Dream Team'

I considered the other day who my
vintage ‘dream team’ might be? If the vagaries of time and motion could be
overcome, bank accounts were full of shekels and I could beam myself around
London Star Trek style?

First of all the basics, eyebrow
shaping, facialistic fiddling, eyelash lashing the clipping of nails and the
waxing of, well whatever needs to be waxed. For this I would find myself in
Anerley Hill in the elegant surroundings of La Belle Jolie, listening to Ella
Fitzgerald whilst talons are painted jungle red by the charming Renee. Basic
canvas prepared and polished I would need to consider my hair.

On my magic carpet to Carnaby
Street to Miss Betty’s in Kingly Street for a sharp cut, zinging colour and a
proper fringe. Here I can relax with a cup of coffee from Sacred coffee on the
ground floor and listen to the best rock and roll in a red rockabilly paradise
of a salon whilst wishing that my French was better…

Should I want a perm with a
vintage set I might jump on a mystery train to deepest darkest Walthamstow to
see Claire who knows her way around a set of perming rods. I’d get a mug of tea
and a complimentary cute dog.

If I wanted to then trip off and
buy the perfect little thirties day dress in mint condition I might board a
steampunk airship to the Vintage Emporium off Brick Lane, which also sometime
provides good dog stroking opportunities.If in need of vintage shopping advice I might turn to the lovely Naomi Thompson
to come and help me out.

My underpinnings would be
provided by What Katie Did as second hand undies are not my thing and WKD’s
mesh seams are amongst the toughest most glamorous hosiery items there are.

If I want to set my look off with
a nice brooch I would then find myself at the little retro fair at Norwood Feast with friendly sellers, funky music, cheap prices and that relaxed Sarf
London vibe.I would top it off with a
bespoke hat from Kezia Argue, Atelier Millinery or Pip Hackett.

Shoe wise the Miss L Fire website
would magically transform into a physical shop with handsome boys in tops and
tails offering a range of colourful shoes for my perusal.

Finally I would trot into a ChapOlympiad, drenched in sunshine with a Fortnum and Mason’s hamper on one arm and
a moustachioed gent with a twinkle in his eye on the other. Well that is my
London Dream Team, what’s yours?

I don't know London well at all (although I would make sure I stopped off at the Black Friar pub), so I'd probably take your list and explore your dream team.

My next trip to London will involve another pub crawl based on the Christopher Fowler book 'The Victoria Vanishes'; I was rather cheeky and tweeted him to ask which pubs he especially recommended and he did me a mini-crawl. All were excellent, so now when it comes to London, Fowler is my leader...